Did the Little Rascals Die Younger Or More Tragically than others in Their Generation?

Poor Chubbsy Wubbsy had a glandular disease. and died after an operation. He achieved normal weight but who knows what they did during the operation...they may have removed something he needed. They didn’t know much about endocrinology in those days

Scotty Beckett had a strange death

“On May 8, 1968, Beckett checked into a Los Angeles nursing home to seek medical attention after suffering a serious beating (the circumstances surrounding it were never made clear). He was found dead in his room on May 10. He was 38 years old. A note and pills were found, but the Los Angeles County coroner stated that an exact cause of death was unknown despite the fact that an autopsy had been performed.[9][10] While no official cause of death has been listed, various media reports state that he either overdosed on barbiturates or alcohol.[4][11][12]”

Jackie Cooper had a long life. He was never as popular as he was as a child actor but had two moderately successful series and a long career as a tv director. He also was head of Screen Gems for a few years.

Harold Switzer, brother of Alfalfa killed someone then committed suicide in 1967.

One story I read said he was a Speed Queen repairman, got into an argument with a customer he then murdered, and killed himself. Another version I read said he killed his girlfriend then himself. At any rate, he killed himself at age 42 after killing someone else.

Whatever happened to that guy who fooled ABC News into thinking that he was Buckwheat 10 years after the real one died?

Eddie Murphy as Buckwheat was funnier than the real Buckwheat

Butch lived a long and regular life.

Robert Blake murdered his wife, but he's still alive.

R2 Scotty was a beautiful child. His story was heartbreaking.

John Collum (Uh-Huh), died of a heart attack at only 36 years old.

Darla Hood died of heart failure at 47 yrs old, after an appendectomy. Apparently, she contracted acute hepatitis from the blood transfusion.

Billie Thomas (Buckwheat) died at 49, of a heart attack.

I worked in 3 separate hospital recovery rooms in the 80s & 90s and at each hospital, a different nesthesiologist brought out a different lady from the OR saying “This patient is Darla from the Little Rascals!”

A lot of older women liked to claim they were Darla, obviously.

I fell for it the first time.

Then, when the 2nd Darla came out of the OR, I remembered my sister & her dumbfuck boyfriend in the 70s telling me how they sat in a bar near Madison Square Garden before a Rolling Stones concert and a black guy came in sat down, struck up a conversation & told them he was the real Stymie. They bought him drinks & he regaled them with dubious Little Rascals gossip. “You idiots,” I said. “The guy probably hits every bar near MSG & Grand Central on the weekends telling the B&T crowd he’s Stymie.”

I also came across an old lady who an anesthesiologist told me was Fay Wray. Her first name was Fay, but her last name was her married name, said the dr.

I wondered if anesthesiologists had some kind of secret in-joke they pulled on RR nurses. But I figured it was just old ladies looking for special attention.

Once the Internet came along, their covers were blown. Darla was long dead by the time I walked into my first PACU & my “Fay Wray” said had no children.

The TV shoe 20/20 got sued back in the day reporting on a fake Buckwheat. Buckwheat was dead when they aired a report showing “Buckwheat” working as a grocery bagger.

Stymie died at age 56 from a stroke.

I know of one little rascal tragedy that was far worse than these tykes.

Our Gang

I remember the fake Buckwheat being on Phil Donahue. I think someone from the LIttle Rascals was on the show and of course thoroughly discredited him. When Donahue asked fake Buckwheat what he had to day about that all he said was "I'm Buckwheat." Crazy son of a bitch. The tv series 20/20 did a story featuring the fake Buckwheat; seems they believed he was who he said he was even thought Billie Thomas, the real Buckwheat, had been dead ten years. 20/20 eventually acknowledged, on-air, that English's claim had been false and apologized for the interview. The fallout from this incident included the resignation of a 20/20 producer and a negligence lawsuit filed by the son of Billie Thomas. Billie Thomas, the real Buckwheat died relatively young. He was only 49 when he died.

[quote] One story I read said he was a Speed Queen repairman,

Oh, you can’t fix those speed queens. We’ve tried.